In Castelbosco, in the Italian countryside, the Museum of the Shit is much more than just a museum where sensitive noses have nothing to fear.

Museo Della Merde, in other words, Museum of the Shit. The idea seems repugnant, but in Castelbosco it is not vulgar. Because its philosophy is directly linked to sustainable development: how to create value from the lowest of materials?

"Taking advantage of all the animal waste"

For it is more than a museum, it is mainly for its creator of a concept born of an observation: the mountains of cow dung left by hundreds of cows in the large farm that he owns to a hundred Kilometers south of Milan.

"The idea was born of a primary requirement that was to take advantage of all animal droppings and this in an ecological way. We have succeeded in transforming them into something useful, "explains Gianantonio Locatelli, 61-year-old gentleman farmer.

On its various farms, 3,500 cattle produce 550 quintals (55 tonnes) each day of milk for the manufacture of the Grana Padano, a traditional cheese. Less glamorous, they also generate 1,500 quintals (150 tons) of slurry, a real puzzle to manage. Rather than undergo it, Locatelli decided to face it, with an ingenious system.

Electricity sold by the farm

The excreta collected are placed in digesters, immense tanks inside which the bacteria transform everything organic into methane. A small overhanging visit offers a powerful odor ... The methane is then burned by engines, to produce electricity, which is sold by the farm. Three MWh are thus generated, equivalent to the lighting of a village of 3,000 to 4,000 inhabitants.

The water used to cool the engines, which comes out at a temperature of 100 degrees, in turn allows to heat the farm and stables but also the digesters which must remain at 40 degrees.

A part of the manure left by digesters is in turn valued in fertilizers, including the "Merdame" which will soon be marketed in supermarkets, explains Locatelli, who prefers to remain discreet about the cost of all investments made.

'Merdacotta', a line of tableware and everyday objects

Last but not least, some of the excreta coming out of the digesters also serves as a line of ... tableware and everyday objects.

The "Merdacotta" (literally "cooked shit") is born from a clever mixture of dung and Tuscany clay, with a "secret touch". Bricks, tiles, flowerpots, plates or pots ... The objects are rustic and elegant. The Merdacotta "is a revolutionary product", "halfway between plastic and terracotta," says Locatelli.

In the museum, created in 2005 on the farm and where sensitive nose have nothing to fear, these objects have a place of choice. All are struck with the sacred scarab, the symbol of the museum because it is capable of forming and transporting large balls of dung that serve to feed its larvae.

Works of art

The museum also features works of art, one of which is based on the therapeutic virtues of excrement, paintings made from liquid shit, or an extract from the film "The Phantom of Freedom" by Luis Bunuel, The scale of values ​​between food and toilets is reversed ... Designed with the architect Luca Cipelletti, it is meant to reflect the reflection led by the breeder.

He who studied agriculture in Canada when he was in his twenties, and who was with Andy Warhol while staying at the same time in New York is also a collector (even if he does not like the term) Conceptual art, including Fluxus. "Shit is seen as something vulgar and nauseous, as the most ignoble material," said Locatelli, who wants to "rehabilitate the word and change its vision 360 degrees".

"Turn shit into something graceful"

The Merdacotta collection received last year the Milan Design Fair prize, rewarding this crazy bet to "turn shit into something graceful," he says.

And while its exploitation has been affected in recent years by the sharp drop in the price of milk, it can rely on its ecological system, "which also created an activity". In this sense "I can only thank shit," says this gentle provocateur.